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I am a 2L at a top 10 school and I am between the top 50-25% as far as grades at my school. We have to bid on employer interviews and I just wanted to know which bay area law firms are the most selective, hardest to get into so that I do not waste a bid on them and which are not as selective, but still pay well?

The bay area is very selective. With your grades, you better have good ties to CA. If you do, you will probably be ok.

Most selective in bay area:KirklandMofoGibson DunnMunger (of course)

The other firms are less selective, but most, with the exception of some of the larger SV offices (latham, wilson, mofo) only take 5-10 summers, and some even less. So keep that in mind. The largest classes in the bay typically top out at 30, max, and only at a couple firms.

Anonymous User wrote:The bay area is very selective. With your grades, you better have good ties to CA. If you do, you will probably be ok.

Most selective in bay area:KirklandMofoGibson DunnMunger (of course)

The other firms are less selective, but most, with the exception of some of the larger SV offices (latham, wilson, mofo) only take 5-10 summers, and some even less. So keep that in mind. The largest classes in the bay typically top out at 30, max, and only at a couple firms.

Old thread but saw this. Don't agree - surely the NY firms (STB, DPW, Skadden) are up there. Those from my school seemed to get more offers from some of the above than those I mentioned now.

Anonymous User wrote:The bay area is very selective. With your grades, you better have good ties to CA. If you do, you will probably be ok.

Most selective in bay area:KirklandMofoGibson DunnMunger (of course)

The other firms are less selective, but most, with the exception of some of the larger SV offices (latham, wilson, mofo) only take 5-10 summers, and some even less. So keep that in mind. The largest classes in the bay typically top out at 30, max, and only at a couple firms.

Old thread but saw this. Don't agree - surely the NY firms (STB, DPW, Skadden) are up there. Those from my school seemed to get more offers from some of the above than those I mentioned now.

Pretty shitty example you chose. Arendt Fox NY gives fewer offers than Paul Weiss, but that doesn't imply that the former is more selective.

The most selective firms overall are definitely Altshuler Berzon and Keker & Van Nest. They only take top 5% types, and only from top 10 schools. In Keker's case they usually only look at HYS and B. All of the summers at both firms usually go on to fed clerkships.

After those two the most selective are prob Howard Rice and of course Leif Cabraser. For the big firms, Covington is quite tough to get. Gibson Dunn is pretty selective as well, especially because the SF office is quite small.

Also to the poster who said Munger: they dont hire 2Ls. Only 1Ls (one summer only) and then post-clerkship applicants.

Anonymous User wrote:The most selective firms overall are definitely Altshuler Berzon and Keker & Van Nest. They only take top 5% types, and only from top 10 schools. In Keker's case they usually only look at HYS and B. All of the summers at both firms usually go on to fed clerkships.

After those two the most selective are prob Howard Rice and of course Leif Cabraser. For the big firms, Covington is quite tough to get. Gibson Dunn is pretty selective as well, especially because the SF office is quite small.

Also to the poster who said Munger: they dont hire 2Ls. Only 1Ls(one summer only) and then post-clerkship applicants.

This is incorrect.. if you look at the NALP forms, Munger had 22 2Ls last summer.

Anonymous User wrote:The most selective firms overall are definitely Altshuler Berzon and Keker & Van Nest. They only take top 5% types, and only from top 10 schools. In Keker's case they usually only look at HYS and B. All of the summers at both firms usually go on to fed clerkships.

After those two the most selective are prob Howard Rice and of course Leif Cabraser. For the big firms, Covington is quite tough to get. Gibson Dunn is pretty selective as well, especially because the SF office is quite small.

Also to the poster who said Munger: they dont hire 2Ls. Only 1Ls(one summer only) and then post-clerkship applicants.

This is incorrect.. if you look at the NALP forms, Munger had 22 2Ls last summer.

Not OP: I am sure this poster is referring to Munger San Francisco, since after all, this is the most selective Bay Area firms. Munger LA, of course, hires 2L summers and is very selective.

Anonymous User wrote:Not OP: I am sure this poster is referring to Munger San Francisco, since after all, this is the most selective Bay Area firms. Munger LA, of course, hires 2L summers and is very selective.

The most selective 4 are definitely Keker, Howard Rice, Altshuler Berzon, and Lieff Cabraser. Farella Braun is similarly selective and fancy, I think. Of the big offices, MoFo, Covington, and GDC are the most selective, followed by the other big offices in the area (Quinn/Orrick/Wilson/K&E/etc.), followed by random satellite offices of national firms (which have smaller class sizes). I have no idea about how IP-oriented firms/offices fall into this hierarchy.

Anonymous User wrote:The most selective 4 are definitely Keker, Howard Rice, Altshuler Berzon, and Lieff Cabraser. Farella Braun is similarly selective and fancy, I think. Of the big offices, MoFo, Covington, and GDC are the most selective, followed by the other big offices in the area (Quinn/Orrick/Wilson/K&E/etc.), followed by random satellite offices of national firms (which have smaller class sizes). I have no idea about how IP-oriented firms/offices fall into this hierarchy.

This seems about right, though Lieff isn't as grade-selective as it is interest-selective (you have to have a serious interest in plaintiff-side work, without which it doesn't matter how good your grades are, even from HYS).

I think KVN, Altshuler and Howard Rice are a notch more selective than anywhere else in the Bay Area. Farella has a small class, but doesn't care as much about grades as the other three. Same with Shartsis Friese.

Covington, GDC and Quinn are probably the most selective BigLaw shops, with K&E, MoFo and OMM another step below.

Anonymous User wrote:Not OP: I am sure this poster is referring to Munger San Francisco, since after all, this is the most selective Bay Area firms. Munger LA, of course, hires 2L summers and is very selective.

Exactly. This thread is about the Bay Area.

Munger SF does not hire 2Ls.

Is the 1L hiring through their diversity program, or is there an SF specific hiring program?

Anonymous User wrote:The most selective 4 are definitely Keker, Howard Rice, Altshuler Berzon, and Lieff Cabraser. Farella Braun is similarly selective and fancy, I think. Of the big offices, MoFo, Covington, and GDC are the most selective, followed by the other big offices in the area (Quinn/Orrick/Wilson/K&E/etc.), followed by random satellite offices of national firms (which have smaller class sizes). I have no idea about how IP-oriented firms/offices fall into this hierarchy.

I hate to bump such an old thread, but why would someone choose Altshuler or Lieff over less selective firms that pay so much more per year?

What are exit options from elite plaintiff-side firms, like those two?

Anonymous User wrote:The most selective 4 are definitely Keker, Howard Rice, Altshuler Berzon, and Lieff Cabraser. Farella Braun is similarly selective and fancy, I think. Of the big offices, MoFo, Covington, and GDC are the most selective, followed by the other big offices in the area (Quinn/Orrick/Wilson/K&E/etc.), followed by random satellite offices of national firms (which have smaller class sizes). I have no idea about how IP-oriented firms/offices fall into this hierarchy.

I hate to bump such an old thread, but why would someone choose Altshuler or Lieff over less selective firms that pay so much more per year?

What are exit options from elite plaintiff-side firms, like those two?

they are great firms for 2L summer as they will help federal clerkship hiring. for real associates, i think ppl just generally like the work. rather than defending evil corporations , you are suing on behalf of migrant farm workers and stuff. basically, doing good-people work but still getting paid reasonably.

The vault rankings should be renamed: the rankings of Public Company and PE corporate firms located in NYC, Chicago, and DC. Lit firms (see Williams Connolly, Quinn, Boies), and private company corporate, VC, and tech firms (see most of the West Coast/ Silicon Valley powerhouses) aren't really measured in the vault rankings well.

The obligatory V30 NYC/Chicago satellites in Palo Alto are not nearly as selective because they are on the bottom of the food chain.

The vault rankings should be renamed: the rankings of Public Company and PE corporate firms located in NYC, Chicago, and DC. Lit firms (see Williams Connolly, Quinn, Boies), and private company corporate, VC, and tech firms (see most of the West Coast/ Silicon Valley powerhouses) aren't really measured in the vault rankings well.

The obligatory V30 NYC/Chicago satellites in Palo Alto are not nearly as selective because they are on the bottom of the food chain.

This thread slowed down. Does anyone know of selective mid size firms in SOUTHERN CA (LA, OC, SD) that are also great places to work (but hard to get). Like Althuser Berzon or Keker Van Nest. Even less selective. Mainly hoping to see if there are mid size firms that are good choices in so-cal even over some of the big firms

So what do their SAs do? Is there just an assumption that they will get clerkships and move on to something else (DOJ Honors, PI, another firm, etc.)?

May I ask why selectivity is so important to you? Some of the best SoCal firms (Quinn, Cooley, OMM) are as good or better than some more selective ones (GDC, Irell, Latham).

I think my question and the quoted ? were thought of as together. I was asking about firms in SoCal and I guess selective wasnt the correct choice of words. I meant are there any really good boutique(ish) firms in SoCal that were top notch. I only said selective because the most selective boutiques tend to be the best